Five Hundred Arhats No.179 · The Venerable Summit of Virtue | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.179 The Venerable Summit of Virtue

'Summit of virtue' is virtue at its very peak, accumulated so high it reaches the unsurpassable; the name marks one whose virtue is at the summit, without equal. The venerable looks lofty and elevated in bearing, possessing the transcendence of virtue at its crown, every virtue perfected, supreme beyond compare—as one atop a high mountain before whom the world lies small.

Painted by Li Zongyi in the freehand Chinese ink (xieyi) tradition, the brushwork is fluent and the ink tones layered from dense to pale, capturing the arhat’s spirit in a few assured strokes. The blank paper itself breathes Zen; figure and spirit are one, blending monastic solemnity with the literati’s ease. Each of the Five Hundred Arhats bears its own name and practice, uniting faith, art and collectibility — an original, non-reproducible hand-painted work.

Size: approx. 100×50cm (4.5 square chi) | Traditional hand-painted Chinese ink Zen Buddhist figure painting | On paper